Open AccessRadTracker: Optical Imaging of High Energy Radiation Tracks
Author(s) -
S. P. Ver,
Mark Lowry,
B. Comaskey,
John E. Heebner,
J S Kallman,
J. Richards
Publication year - 2007
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/1036868
Subject(s) - optics , radiation , detector , signal (programming language) , excitation , scattering , beam (structure) , absorption (acoustics) , physics , charge coupled device , particle detector , materials science , computer science , quantum mechanics , programming language
This project examined the possibility of extending the recently demonstrated radoptic detection approach to gamma imaging. Model simulations of the light scattering process predicted that expected signal levels were small and likely below the detection limit of large area, room-temperature detectors. A series of experiments using pulsed x-ray excitation, modulated gamma excitation and optical pump-probe methods confirmed those theoretical predictions. At present the technique does not appear to provide a viable approach to volumetric radiation detection; however, in principal, orders of magnitude improvement in the SNR can result by using designer materials to concentrate and localize the radiation-absorption induced charge, simultaneously confining the optical mode to increase 'fill' factor and overlap of the probe beam with the affected regions, and employing high speed gated imaging detectors to measure the scattered signal